Duplicating machine



Aug. 3, 1937. c; H. BRADT 2,088,572

DUPLI'CATING MACHINE Filed Sept. 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTO'R ATTORNEYS Aug. 3, 1937. c. H. BRADT 2,088,572

DUPLICATING MACHINE Filed Sept. 25, 1935 Sheets-Sheet; 2

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1.9 INVENTOR CWd ZarEB/adt ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 3, 19 37 UNITED STATES PATENT OF FTQE DUPLICATING liIACHINE Application September 9 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in duplicating machines, and more particularly to duplicating machines of the hectograph type.

The invention has for its principal objects to provide an improved duplicating machine of the hectograph type adapted for application of different desired pressures to sheets of equal thickness in laying sheets upon the surface of the resilient gelatinous duplicating medium of the machine; adapted for application of the same degree of pressure to sheets of different thicknesses in laying sheets upon the said medium; and adapted for laying sheets upon the said medium without distortion of or damage to said medium.

Other important objects of the invention are to provide a duplicating machine of the hectograph type having a sheet-laying carriage reciprocable over the duplicating medium and carrying both an impression roller and manually operable means for depressing and lifting the roller adjustable to vary the maximum limit of depression of the roller by said manually operable means," and to provide such a machine wherein the carriage may be lifted by pressure of the sheet-laying roller upon a sheet if it is desired to I add the weight of the carriageto the pressure applied to the roller through the medium of the manually operable means for depressing and lifting the roller.

The invention also provides hand-operated means for depressing and lifting the sheet-laying roller in the carriage readily adjustable by the operator to vary the pressure applicable by 5 said means to the roller and adapted to yield if said pressure exceeds a predetermined maximum.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of embodiments of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a hectograph duplicating machine embodying the invention in a preferred form;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, on the same line as Fig. 4, showing the impression roller lifted to its inactive elevated position in the carriage;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the impression roller in operative sheet-laying lowered position; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Figs. 6 and 7 are views corresponding respec- 23, 1935, Serial No. 41,648

tively with Figs. 3 and 4 but showing a slightly modified construction;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2, with part of the impression roller supporting frame broken away, showing the mounting of the impression roller axle in said frame; and

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view on the line 99 of Fig. 1.

Only so much of the machine is shown as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention. The frame of the machine includes side walls it, a flat horizontally disposed bed It supported by said walls, and a pair of channel members l2 also supported by said walls and extending longitudinally of the bed at opposite sides of the bed. The flanges 112 of members l2 lie in a horizontal plane and form track members. The usual gelatin duplicating band or hectograph medium I3 extends over the bed, said band resting on the bed with its gelatinous duplicating surface uppermost. Said band, as usual, is connected to winding spindles l4 journalled in the machine frame.

The carriage l5 is reciprocable over the bed fore and aft ofthe machine and is shown at the forward limit of its travel in Figs. 1 and 2. The impression roller or platen 6 for laying sheets upon the band l3 has its axle IB journalled in longitudinal slots l 9 in the rearwardly extending side arms of a pivoted yoke H which is journalled on a shaft It held in the carriage. Shaft It extends horizontally transversely of the machine and supports the yoke l! to rock up and down in the carriage. Spring-pressed plungers it, housed in the forward portions of slots l9, bear against roller axle It and normally press the latter rearward against retaining screws 21 tapped into the side arms of the yoke adjacent the open ends of slots IS.

The usual paper table 22 is fixed on the carriage, and the usual paper feed roller 23 is journalled below the lower edge of said table in studs 2 t projecting inwardly from the right and left hand ends of the carriage. Studs 24 serve as fixed stops to limit downward swinging of yoke I! in the carriage, the side arms of said yoke being formed with stop lugs or projections ll engageable over said studs. Upward swinging of the yoke in'the carriage is limited by engagement of the cross-bar of the yoke with the front wall of the carriage. The yoke is adapted to be releasably latched at the upward limit of its movement by the usual spring-pressed latch plunger 25 mounted on the carriage, past the inner end of which snaps the head of a screw 26 tapped into the yoke.

At its right hand end the carriage is pivotally and slidably held to an up-and-down movable guide rod 2? which extends loosely through bearing ears 28 formed on the carriage. Adjacent the right and left hand ends of the carriage, said carriage has journalled thereon supporting rollers 29 to roll on the track ways formed by flanges i2 of member i2. Guide rod 2? extends horizontally longitudinally of the machine parallel to the adjacent side of the bed and is fixedly held at its ends to the outer ends of the outwardly projecting arms of a yoke 39 which is pivotally held to the frame of the machineat 3! to rock I about a horizontal axis extending'fore-and-aft of the machine. Fore-and-aft travel of the carriage is limited by engagement of its bearing ears 28 with suitable stops 32 and 33 mounted on its guide rod 21.

The parts heretofore described are known and the improvements will now be described.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9, the carriage is reciprocated and the yoke I1 is rocked by means of a rigid handle or hand lever 34 pivotally mounted on a yokelike bracket 35 by means of a suitable pivot pin 36. Bracket 35 is fixed tothe front wall of carriage IE at the front face of said Wall by suitable rivets, the handle or hand lever 35 extending upwardly from its pivot substantially midway the ends of the carriage and being supported by pivot pin 35 to swing fore-and-aft of the machine. A rigid link 31, which extends fore-andaft of the machine over the top of the front wall of the carriage, is connected at its front end with the handle by means of a pin 38 which is held to the handle and extends across a recess 39 formed in the rear face of the handle. Pin 38 extends through a closed slot 4!] formed in the front end portion of link 37, said slot extending longitudinally of the link. link 3'! is pivotally held at its rear end to the cross bar of yoke H by a pivot pin ll carried by a pair of upstanding ears or lugs 42 formed on the cross bar of yoke ll, said pin M extending through a pivot hole in the rear end of the link. Pins 36, 38 and ii extend horizontally transversely of the machine.

It will be obvious that the yoke ll and roller I6 may be lifted by rocking hand lever 34 forward, the link connection between the yoke and lever and the engagement between the yoke and front wall of the carriage limiting forward rocking movement of the handle. To swing yoke 11 and roller l6 downward and permit roller iii to be urged downward with a selected force upon a sheet being laid upon band IS, a manually adjustable thrust member is mounted on hand lever 3 for thrusting against the front end of link 31 when lever 3 6 is rocked rearward. Said thrust member is adjustable to either maintain contact with the front end of link 31 or to be spaceddifferent selected distances from the front end of said link when the hand lever is rocked to its forward limit of movement and yoke I! is latched at the upper limit of its movement. Said thrust member is preferably in the form of a shouldered thumb screw 43 having a knurled head and a hand-lever-abutting shoulder at the front of the hand lever and having a reduced threaded shank screwed rearwardly through a threaded aperture in the lever, the threaded shank of said screw extending into recess 39 in the hand lever for abutment of the preferably rounded rear end of said shank with the preferably convex front end edge of link 37.

When screw 43 is screwed rearwardly as far as possible (as shown in Figs. 3 and 4), the roller 56 may be pressed down with maximum force to a sheet being laid. By backing off the screw 4-3 more or less the down force with which said roller will act on a sheet being laid may be varied if sheets of the same thickness are laid, or, by proper adjustments of the screw, sheets of different thickness may be laid with identical roller pressures. Rearward swinging of the hand lever is limited by contact of the hand lever with the riveted cross member of its supporting yoke 35. In the adjustment of screw 43 shown in Figs. 3 and 4 said contact occurs when lugs W on yoke I! contact studs 24 on the carriage. Full depression of the roller it in this maximum rearwardly adjusted position of screw t3 results in slightly lifting carriage l5 until rollers 29 are slightly clear of tracks it thus impressing upon roller it the full weight of the carriage and of all par 5 mounted on the carriage.

The modified construction shown in Figs. 6 and 7 is identical with the construction above described except that link 37, instead of being simply pivotally held to pin M at its rear end, is pivotally and slidably held to pin 45, said pin passing through a closed slot 44 which extends longitudinally of the link at the rear end of the link, and, further, except that a helical compression spring 45 is coiled about the link, the front end of which spring bears against a pin "58 extending through the link between slots 56 and i t, and the rear end of which spring bears against cars 52 on yoke ii. In this modified construction, thrust positively applied to the link 3'5 by screw 43 when the handle 3 3 is swung rearward is not positively transmitted by the link to yoke ill but is yieldingly transmitted to the yoke through spring 45. Preferably the strength'of spring 35 is such as to permit roll it to lift at least slightly relatively to the carriage without lifting of the carriage relatively to tracks i2 What I claim is:

l. A duplicating machine having, in combination, a bed for supporting a duplicating medium, a carriage movable rearward and forward over said bed, an impression roller extending transversely of said bed, a support for said roller rockably mounted on the carriage for swinging the roller up and down relatively to the bed, an upstanding hand lever for moving the carriage rearward and forward and for rocking said roller support and pivotally mounted on the carriage independently of said support to swing rearwardly and forwardly, means for positively limiting rearward swinging of the hand lever, and an operating connection between the hand lever and support for rocking the support and adjustable to establish selected amounts of lost-motion in said connection.

2. A duplicating machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said operating connection comprises a link pivoted at one end to said support and having a pin-and-slot connection at its other end with said hand lever, and a thrust member carried by said hand lever for contact with the last-mentioned end of the link and adjustable on said lever toward and from said last-mentioned end of the link. l

3. Aduplicating machine having, in combination, a bed for supporting a duplicating medium, arcarriage movable back and forth over the bed longitudinally of the bed, an impression roller extending transversely of the bed, a roller support rockably mounted on the carriage to raise and lower the roller, an upstanding hand lever fulcrumed on the carriage forward of said support to swing fore-and-aft of the bed, a rigid link extending rearward from said hand lever to said support and having pin-and-slot connections with the lever and support, a thrust member on the lever for contacting the forward end of the link and adjustable toward and from said forward end of the link, an abutment carried by the link, and a helical compression spring surrounding the link and abutting at its opposite ends the roller support and the link carriedabutment.

4. A duplicating machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein the hand lever is mounted on the carriage for arrest or rearward swinglng thereof at a fixed point.

5. A duplicating machine having, in combination, a bed for supporting a duplicating medium, a carriage movable back and forth over the bed longitudinally of the bed, an impression roller extending transversely of the bed, a roller support rockably mounted on the carriage to raise and lower the roller, an upstanding hand lever fulcrumed on the carriage forward of said support to swing fore-and-aft of the bed, means on the carriage engageable by said lever to positively limit rearward swinging movement of the lever, and an operating connection between the lever and support for rocking the support to lower the roller when the lever is swung rearward and to raise the roller when the lever is swung forward, said connection being yieldable to permit rocking of the roller support in roller-lifting direction while the hand lever is held rocked rearward.

6. A duplicating machine having, in combination, a bed for supporting a duplicating medium, a carriage movable rearward and forward over said bed longitudinally of the bed, an impression roller extending transversely of the bed, a roller support rockably mounted on the carriage to raise and lower the roller, a hand lever fulcrumed on the carriage independently of the support, and a link connection between said hand lever and support for rocking the support when the lever is actuated, said link connection including a link connected with the lever to receive thrust therefrom to rock the support for lowering the roller, means whereby thrust imparted by the lever to the link is yieldingly transmitted to the support, and means whereby said lever is adapted to pull on said support through said link to rock the support to raise the roller.

7. A duplicating machine having, in combination, a bed for supporting a duplicating medium,

a traveling carriage reciprocable over the bed, an impression roller which travels with the carriage over the bed and extends transversely of the path of travel of the carriage, a shiftable roller support on the carriage supporting the roller for up and down movement of the latter relatively to the carriage, and hand-operable means on the carriage connected with the shiftable support to raise the roller to and lower it from an idle position and adjustable to prevent, at selected points in the downward movement of the roller from said idle position, further application to said support by said hand-operable means of hand applied force tending to lower the roller, said hand-operable means including a hand lever which is fulcrumed on the carriage and has an amplitude of throw which is unaffected by the adjustments of said hand-operable means.

8. A duplicating machine having, in combination, a bed for supporting a duplicating medium, a duplicating medium extending over said bed, a traveling carriage guided for reciprocation over said bed and for up and down floating movement relatively to said bed while parallel with the bed, an impression roller extending transversely of the path of travel of the carriage over the bed and duplicating medium, a roller support mounted in the carriage and supporting the roller to travel with the carriage and shiftable for imparting up and down movement to the roller relatively to the carriage, an upstanding hand lever fulcrumed on the carriage independently of said support to rock back and forth in the directions of reciprocating travel of the carriage, means connecting said hand lever and support for shifting of the support by the hand lever to move the roller up and down relatively to the carriage and manually adjustable at will to permit the roller to be forced downward relatively to the carriage different distances from an idle position by power transmitted from the hand lever, and means for supporting the carriage independently of the impression roller for travel over the bed and duplicating means except when the roller is lowered relatively to the carriage a predetermined extent below its idle position.

9. A duplicating machine, as claimed in claim 8, wherein the hand lever and the roller support are mounted on the carriage and connected by the connecting means in such manner that the hand lever has a positively limited amplitude of swinging movement which always remains constant irrespective of the adjustment of the connecting means. 7

CHARLES H. BRADT. 

